


Friendship For Beginners

by sillita



Series: You're My Childhood Memory [1]
Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: (at least kind of), Childhood Friends, Fluff, Gen, Summer Camp, and a bit of cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9810659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillita/pseuds/sillita
Summary: Happy and Toby end up on the same summer camp when they're kids. Surprisingly to both of them, they find some common ground.





	

Summer camp seemed to be the best and the worst time of the year simultaneously for the fourteen-years-old Toby Curtis. The worst, because there was _nothing_ entertaining about those silly games and activities camp counselors came up with and he always ended up with a group of kids so dumb and immature that even tricking them wasn't fun, it was far too easy and boring. The best, because, let's face it, it was pretty great to get three meals a day without having to make them himself, and generally the whole notion of the adults actually taking care of them was kinda nice. And he could sleep whole nights without having anyone wake him up, shouting. At least unless some kid was crying for they _mommy._ What a stupid idea, crying for your mom in the middle of the night.

But regardless of whether he actually liked them or not, camps were a fixed point in his summer schedule for years now. He suspected they were getting some refund from school for them, because it would be impossible for his parents to be so consistent about something if it wasn't enforced by higher authorities. It was the eighth time he arrived to Canyon Creek with a backpack so old that it was probably used by one of his parents on their summer camps. He threw his stuff onto one of the beds, securing a spot just by the door.  _Just in time,_ he thought to himself, because a kid as big as a mountain entered the room  and looked at the spot with clear jealousy.

"That's my bed, " he grunted, sounding a bit like a caveman.

"Oh, really? I didn't realize that. Well, I'm _almost_ unpacked, so I guess you'll have to find another..."

"Or you could go find another place."

"I could...?"

"And in return, you won't get into trouble."

"I have a better idea. Do you know how to play blackjack?"

"Blackjack?"

"I'll teach you, and then we'll play for the spot, deal?" Toby grinned. This summer camp might not be so bad after all...

 

***

Happy Quinn has never been to a summer camp before. Most foster families wouldn't send a kid who just arrived at their home away for two months. The current family would, though. This might have had something to do with her having a huge fight with another kid there. A fight that ended up with her constructing a trap which dropped a whole jar of cockroaches onto his head when he entered his room. The parents couldn't get rid of the bugs for a month after that. Happy didn't foresee a long future with them for herself. Not that it was something new, anyway.

She stopped at the door, looking at a room full of girls, most of them chatting or playing with some dolls already. She decided to take the bed by the girl who lying down and reading. She looked at her unsure of whether she should say hello, or leave her in peace.

"I'm Sally and I don't like it when people interrupt my reading." The girl raised her head from the book, probably because she felt Happy's stare on her back.

"Cool. My name is Happy."

"Nice to meet you, Happy." Sally nodded and came back to her book.

 

***

Toby was coming back to his room from the most boring game of baseball he ever experienced. Well, _experienced_ might not be a right word for it, since he spent most of the time faking injury and convincing the teacher that only the peace and quiet of his own bed will be the ultimate cure for it. He was whistling quietly, looking forward to finally having some time away from the idiots that surrounded him. Not that he hated them, they actually turned out to be pretty useful in establishing his status around there, but it was tiring to constantly pretend to be less intelligent than he was. And he had to do it, because if he was to remain tolerated by the Big Joe's crew, he couldn't flaunt being smarter than them too often. And they weren't the smartest bunch around, so it wasn't that easy.

He was almost reaching his room, when he saw something that threw him off his good mood.

"Oh no, why all the snot-nosed kids have to cry on _my_ porch," he murmured to himself, but stopped by the child. He couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl, because they hid almost their whole head in a baggy sweatshirt, only a tip of the head was poking out, showing some black hair. "Hey, little one, what is it?" He tilted his head to have a better look. A pair of bloodshot red eyes slowly glanced out of the sweatshirt. After that, the girl pulled it down off her face, wiping the tears off on the way.

"Go away."

"I would, but you're literally sitting at my doorstep." He shrugged. The girl shifted a bit to let him pass.

"Go." She repeated. Toby didn't move.

"Aren't you a bit too old to be crying for mommy anyway? How old are you, eight?"

"Ten." The voice was so quiet, it was almost a whisper.

"Then you _are_ too old for that. Don't worry, mommy will pick you up in four weeks."

"Piss off." The girl gave him an angry look. Toby looked at her with widened eyes, partly to fake an outrage, partly because he was actually surprised. She looked so innocent at first. Most kids there did.

"What's with the language, young lady? Do you want me to report it to..." He said, with a hint of laugh in his voice.

"Leave me alone, okay?" She shouted and suddenly jumped up, ready to leave.

"Hey, wait..." Toby grabbed her by the arm. He had to admit, he was intrigued. "Was I insensitive? What is it?" The girl observed him for a few seconds. That was a new one. Most kids in there were some dumb, they looked at him, sure, but they did not _observe._

"I don't _have_ a mommy." She said reluctantly after a moment.

"Oh... shit."

"You're telling me." The girl gave him a small smile. They were standing awkwardly for a while.

"What's your name?"

"Happy."

"Nice to meet you Happy, I'm Toby."

"I know you."  Happy frowned, looking like the least friendly kid in the world. "You're with that Joe bunch."

"I guess you could say that" Toby admitted reluctantly, crossing his arms.

"They're not cool." She shook her head. "They made Sally cry one day. Told her she's a nerd."

"They did?" He asked, surprised that his roommates actually took some kind of action without his directions. Happy nodded again.

"I told them it's better to be a nerd than an idiot." She answered. Toby snorted. Apparently, the kid had some balls.

"Quite right. Hey, do you want some chocolate?" Toby reached to his pocked, took out two chocolate bars, and threw one towards the kid. Happy opened it eagerly. Toby pointed to a bench and they sat down together.

"Isn't that the dessert from yesterday's dinner?" She asked after the first bite. Toby nodded. "How did you get two?"

"I won them."

"Won...?"

"Blackjack. Got it off Mike. It's so easy to convince him to bet, I just have to lose once in a while. Something little, like the bed spot. Can you imagine it's so important for some guys?"

"I guess." Happy shrugged, not really interested.

"So, why were you crying?" Toby glanced at her shortly.

"Why are you friends with that stupid guys?" Happy answered with a question.

"I'm not really _friends_ with them...." He started, but Happy interrupted.

"Joe's really mean."

"Nah, he's just covering up his feelings of isolation and an inferiority complex by criminal tendencies." Toby explained.

"What?"

"I read about it in a book. I could borrow it to you, if you want." He said. "You can learn some cool stuff about people. Do you want to?"

"Not really. People are boring. And mean." She sniffled.

"Is that why you were crying?" Toby didn't give up on getting to know that.

"What?" Happy frowned.

"Did you cry because someone was mean?"

"No." Happy apparently wasn't big on full sentences.

"Are you going to tell my why?" Toby sighed.

"No."

"Okay." He shrugged. "You know what, the baseball will soon be over and the guys will come back."

"Yeah, I'm going. Thanks for the chocolate."

"Not a problem." Toby nodded. Happy turned away to leave, but she stopped for a second.

"You're not as mean as the rest of your guys." She said quietly, but it sounded like the biggest compliment she ever gave. Toby grinned.

"I sure hope so."

 

***

At first Toby wasn't sure what woke him up, but then he realized that someone was tugging him by his sleeve carefully but consistently. He opened his eyes but saw no one. He looked down and saw a small hand reaching out from under his bed. He leaned down and saw the girl he talked to yesterday. Toby looked around- luckily, none of his roommates woke up.

"Happy?" He asked sleepily. "What... wait." He got up and gestured for her to follow him. They left the room and Toby closed the door behind them quietly. "What is it?" Happy looked at him hesitantly for a while. Finally, she sighed.

"I need your help."

"Okay," Toby rubbed his eyes to fend off sleepiness. "What is it?" He repeated.

"The girls won't let me into the room." She confessed reluctantly. "I tried to sleep outside, really, but I can't." She added quickly, then paused and wrapped her sweater tightly around herself. "I'm scared of the bats." The last part was so quiet that it was barely hearable.

"Well, you can't stay here."

"Obviously."

"Did you try telling on them?"

"Are you kidding me?" Happy glanced at him, annoyed.

"Okay, that was just a suggestion." Toby shrugged. "Happy, did you _do_ something?"

"No." Happy wrapped herself in the sweater even more tightly. "We were talking about books and stuff..." She sniffed. "And I don't know any _Princess diaries._ And they didn't read _Moby Dick._ Or _The mysterious island._ And I told them that I know them by heart, and I could tell them, and they said..." She paused to catch a breath. "They said it's stupid to know books by heart. And Katie said that my books are stupid." Happy wiped her nose with her sleeve. "So I told Katie that I'm going to put cockroaches in her bed."

"Oh."

"And then Sally said that I'm weird. And that I shouldn't be allowed to sleep in a room with normal girls. They threw all my stuff out." She sobbed for a while but then she held her breath, dried her cheeks with her sleeve and sighed. "I'm not gonna cry, but I don't know where to sleep." Toby stood quiet for a moment, thinking.

"I've got an idea, come on. Where's your room?"

Happy pointed and followed Toby reluctantly. They stopped by the door labeled with a pink piece of paper which had _Princesses' Kingdom_   written on it. Toby rolled his eyes.

"Okay, we're going to..." Toby started to explain quietly, but then he resigned and shook his head. "You're not stupid, you'll figure it out. Just go with it." He banged on the door.

A blond kid with ponytails opened the door. Toby noticed she took a tiny step back when she saw him. That was a good sign.

"I understand you've been mean to Big Joe's sister?"

"Sister?" The girl at the door looked confused.

"Step-sister, to be exact. He cares about her just as much." Toby shook his head with fake disapproval.

"But..." The girl tried to answer, but he interrupted.

"You're lucky I woke up before he did. I'm willing to let it pass if you promise to be nice to Happy for the rest of the camp. He probably wouldn't be so forgiving." Toby sighed, which made him sound a little bit like an elderly man. "I understand everyone can come back to their own beds now, right?"

"But..." The kid at the door sounded a bit like a broken record.

"Let her in, Maureen." A dark-haired girl walked up to the door. "You won't tell Joe, okay?" She looked at Toby and Happy both.

"Happy?" Toby looked at her with a small smile.

"Sure." She shrugged.

" _If_ there are no more problems." Toby reminded.

"Come in, Happy." The girl at the door sighed.

"That's your stuff?" Toby pointed at a pile of clothes by the door. "I'll help you carry it inside."

"Toby," Happy whispered, pulling him by the sleeve as soon as the girls disappeared inside the room, "What when they realize it's not true?"

"Why would they? Believe me, they won't ask him. And maybe I don't know much about siblings, but I read that in our age it's normal for them to hate each other, so you don't even have to _act_ like a family." The boy answered. "You'll be fine."

"They still hate me." Happy frowned and picked up some of the clothes.

"They don't. You're just smarter than them and they're... scared. People do that." Toby shrugged.

"That's in your book too?"

"No, that's... something I learned along the way. Come on, kid. Let's get you settled, I want to go back to sleep." He started gathering Happy's stuff too. "And Happy? No cockroaches, okay?"

"I couldn't find any anyway."

 

***

Happy couldn't say that she was glad to leave the camp. She didn't actually make close friends there, obviously, but she felt _tolerated._ In the end some girl even offered to borrow her a doll to play. Not that Happy was interested, of course. The girls tried really hard to act like they considered her normal and even though she knew it wasn't true, it made her feel nice. So she could even say that she was a bit sad when the camp was over. Especially when she remembered she was coming back to the house she infested with cockroaches not so long ago.

"Hey! Hey, kiddo, wait! Happy!" She heard behind her as she was about to get on the bus. It was Toby.

"What?" She looked at him, surprised.

"I wanted to say goodbye. And give you this." He handed Happy a book.

"What is it?"

"It's a present." Toby smiled.

" _Psychology for beginners_ " Happy read the cover. "That's your _people_ book?"

"Yeah." Toby grinned. "I think you might find it useful."

"I don't think so." Happy didn't look convinced.

"Try it." He patted her on the shoulder. "Goodbye, Happy."

"Bye."

 

***

"Guys, this is Happy. She's an engineer, 184 IQ, and she's going to work with us." Walter pointed to the woman walking into the garage after him. "Happy, you can have this desk."

Sly and Toby walked up to them, curious and a bit excited.

"Haven't we met before?" Toby tilted his head, grinning.

"I don't know." There was no emotion or sign of recognition in Happy's voice.

"I think we did."

Happy shrugged, not even trying to answer and threw her bag by her new desk, trying not to make eye contact with anyone in the building for the rest of the day. When she got home, however, she burrowed through half of her stuff, looking for a small yellow book. When she finally got it in her hands, she opened it. _Property of Tobias M. Curtis, future M.D.,_ stood on the first page.

"Maybe I should read it now." Happy whispered to herself.


End file.
